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Monday, April 21, 2014

Splitsville

It is not bad grammar to split infinitives! Don't believe me?The grammar girl says so at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/split-infinitivesShe references wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitiveI am relieved! I have struggled for several years to retrain my brain and my ear to hate split infinitives, and I still stumble when I read un-split infinitive phrases like, "She decided not to go."When speaking, "Decide to not go," sounds better to me, probably because when I say it, I emphasize 'not' for clarity.The fact that the rule against splitting infinitives is imaginary doesn't mean it is a good idea to do it in our writing, though. It invites nasty comments from well-intentioned readers and red line corrections from editors. It's good to know I am grammatically correct if I turn to my significant other and say, "The next time you want toaccidently forget to take out the trash..."After, Star Trek opened each episode with, "To boldly go where no one has gone before."